Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-01-29
MEXICAN WOMEN.
HOW THEY SPEND THEIR TINE
BEFORE AND AFTER MARRIAGE.
A Land Where Elderly Maiden La
dies Are Respected-Quaint Say
ings of Mexican Children.


The scholastic course of Mexican girl
of aristocratic family is finished before she
is fifteen, at which age she is considered
" manageable The wife of General
Santa Ana was welded to that willy ruler,
whom the Americans remember as the
Butcher of the Alamo" when only thirteen,
and numerous brides in these later days
are scarcely older. 1t must be remembered,
however. that girls mature early in the
tropics, and in corros spending ratio grow
old much sooner than in the colder North.
Though Mexico abounds in single women
of mature age, one never hears of an old
maid" for to remain forever unmarried
entails no such stigma here as attaches to
minated females of other lands. If her
lonely condition is alluded to by these
polite people they speak Of her with some
kindly phrase indicating that La po6rdcata
the poor. dear thing has been =" hard to
please"
The custom of engaging accomplished
FOREIGN goyernesses or native tutors 10 IN
struct Young girls at home is gaining
ground among wealthy families in Mexico )
because to send
A BUDDING sENoRITA,
Over 10 years of age, to day school-eyen
in the family carriage, accompanied by
maid who never loses sight of her TILL she
is safely returned to the paternal casa-ls
looked upon as an alarming stretch of the
prophecies. In the days of conventual in
stitutions the daughters of well-to-do pa
rents were universally placed in charge OF
the gentle sisterhood, generally entering
the convent schools at an early age and
remaining until old enough to marry
Since the Punishment OF nuns ana MONKS
from Mexico, a great many private scnoolS
and seminaries have beeA established,
wherein girls are duly finished accord
in. to Mexican ideas. The acme OF their
ACCOMPLISHMENTS is to become good lin
g11ists and excellent musicians, and to &C
ouire a smattering of history and general
literature, placing them about on a par
with the corresponding class in France and
Spain. But they are never cultured to the
Bostonian point in the classics or occult
sciences, their simple requirements being
such as TO shine TO best advantage III the
home circle.
Mexican ladies Of high degree are never
educated with a view to utilizing their
accomplishments fer gaining livelihood
in any possible reverse Of fortune, for I'M
der no circumstances are they expected to
assist in their own support. The old Span
ish custom which obliges gentlemen to
provide for all their destitute female rela-
lives and to shield them absolutely from
contact with the world, still prevails among
the upper classes, Notwithstanding the fact
that nearly a century of foreign wars ana
internal revolutions have made 1t differ
II. l f.aVN nfa O.
barred from matrimony thescIons OF proud
but impoverished houses.
Asa rule. paterfdmaias does not encour-
age much reading of books-except of
religious character-among the female
members of his flock, and sertainly not the
general run of newspapers such as are found
IN every Northern family. He believes
not only that little knowledge is dan
gerous thing and might lead TO that per
nicious stroug-mindednesS which he
imagines afflicts most ladies in the United
States-but that literally
IGNORANCE Is BnIss u
In their appointed sphere. If not married
at once when escaped from school restraints
sometimes the mother or some elderly
female relative undertakes to instruct the
daughters in those domestic duties which
matrimony entails, because-whether rich
or poor-on the day of her marriage she
will go to home of her own, which the
expectant bridegroom must previously pre-
yiously prepare. To that end she is taught
to prepare delicacies for the sick and re-
freshing medicinal drinks, to make dMcte /,
ielIies and dainty deserts and occasionally,
by way of practice, is given for season
the entire management OF her fathers
household | have heard of cases where
she has even ordered all the provisions,
paid the servants, provided rations for the
carriage horses and looked over the coach
mans bills for shooting, etc.-in short, kept
thorough account,of all domestic expend
itures: but those instances are Extremely
rare.
Domestic life among the upper classes
in Mexico is charmingly simple, and
really worthy Of imitation as contrasted to
the lives of some of our society ladies
with their summer at watering places and
winters in Europe, their neglected homes
and ceaseless round of expensive gaiety.
A professional beauty" would not be
tolerated here in good society, and mar
ried belle would speedily find herself
ostracized as an improper character.
Another class OF women, grade or two
below the patrician strata in the social
structure are numerous in Mexico and
greatly to be pitied. They of course con-
slider themselves far above the working
classes, yet are too poor to be comfortable
and too proud to work for living-as any
right-minded American girl would do. The
ignorant and bigoted parents of this rank
have some ambition in regard TO the edu-
cation of their sons, generally straining
every point Of household economy to send
them to some local college; but for the
girls reading. writing and embroidery is
considered amply sufficient. For several
years past the Mexican Government has
been making praiseworthy efforts to anne
liorate the dense ignorance of this class, by
increasing the number of public schools
and offering education free to all. One
more step is needed however, and that is
TO render it compulsory, and to Danish the
needle and embroidery frame from the
school-house. Hitherto the greater portion
of the school-hours of these girls has been
devoted TO the
QUESTIONABLE ACCOMPLISHMENT
OF embroidery. lace-work and the manu-
facture of artificial fiowers-the latter in
dustry being doubly a farce in this land of
flowers. In many of these schools the
teachers exhibit with pride specimens of
finest stitching and most elaborate EN-
broidery lace and drawn" work of mar
fOlbiS SAuNdS hOsA tlcl
equals the famous Gobelin tapestry
Angels, scriptural incidents, etc, are
wrought with silk upon fine linen, requir-
ing infinite pains and vast expenditure
of precious eye-sight and often q years
time is devoted by some poor girl. who can
scarcely read and write. in an amazing
creation in canvas and colored wools-per-
haps her patron saint, represented with
purple hair and yellow legs or land
scape, with green dog in the foreground.
resting his nose upon the peaks of crimson
mountains, ami his tail in the branches of
blue tree-which MASTERPIECE is framed
and hung in the parlor by her delighted
mother. who points it out W til pride for
ever afterwards as the crowning proof of
her daughters education.
When these slaves of the needle emerge
from school, naturally their minds are
dwarfed as their eyes and spines are
weakened, and they are ignorant and super
stitious to a degree. They take no interest
in books, seldom understanding even the
geographical position of their own country,
and TO them the whole world beyond is a
total blank. Being thus pitiably without
resources, their future depends entirely
upon marriage-and happening 10 miss
that they are noHentities indeed at the
age of forty they are broken-down and
decrepid old women, without trace of the
dark beauty which we so much admire in
their early youth
The Indian women OF this country are
another distinct class whose lives are 90